Month: December 2003

White Elephant

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We had a “white elephant” game at our office holiday party today- we stuffed ourselves with ice cream and cake and avoided work. I ended up with some ancient memory sticks, and I brought in some Japanese washi paper dolls which ended up being some of the more popular items- they were “stolen” several times.

I had rescued them from the trash when my dad moved his office. I think they were originally a present from a Japanese energy utility executive… the bases they were on were pretty cheap wood and originally they were in flimsy acetate cubes that had yellowed with age… although elegant, I’m guessing they were made as a kit by a executive’s wife. I’m not really into dolls, especially fragile paper ones that are constantly in danger of being squished, but I couldn’t quite just throw them away… I’m glad they have a home now, and nicer than the shelf in my garage.

I remember the first time I did this “white elephant” game- I had to be like 8 or something and I was at a friend’s birthday party. We all picked our presents, and I got something that was pretty cool. Everyone was into it. And then it got taken away. I couldn’t believe this was really the point of this game. I suddenly had a newfound interest in the rules- was he allowed to do that? Yep. Fucking assholes.

The moral of this story is-

  • you want something cool… but not too cool. Deprecate your item if you like it.
  • don’t get attached to your gift
  • don’t bring anything people will want very badly
  • don’t play this game if you are not yet in high school
  • in retrospect, maybe I should have just thrown a fit and threatened the rest of the party with insane violence. Hmmm…

Sort of a Zen lesson isn’t it? Impermanence… attachments… desire and suffering. It’s all in there. And all in about 20 minutes. What a deal!

The Rules:

  • Everyone brings in a wrapped gift, a “white elephant”- something which is not junk, but you don’t want it. The “wrapped” part is important.
  • everyone takes a number
  • in order, the players take turns
    1. you can take an unwrapped gift and unwrap it
    2. or you can take someone else’s gift
    3. if your gift is taken then you can pick again- an unwrapped gift or someone else’s
    4. The exception: any one gift cannot be stolen more than 3 times

Tantrums and beatings are optional.

Woodblock Monsters

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I’ve been looking for a big book of Japanese monsters for a while- the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has a Zazzle store with some of the woodblock images I’ve been looking for! A lead at last!

Hokusai, Japanese, 1760 – 1849 The Dish Mansion (Sara yashiki), from the series One Hundred Ghost Stories (Hyaku monogatari), 1830 Color woodcut Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Carlotta Mabury Collection

It looks like the Library of Congress has 5 original panels:

Hokusai Hyaku Monogatari (Ghost Tales)
Katsushika Hokusai
no Uchi Gomai

In kanji his name is “葛飾北斎” – the series of prints is “百物語” which you’ll notice is just “one hundred stories.” “Ghost” or “Monster” is obake which is written like “ã?ŠåŒ–ã?‘”.

Another artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) (月岡 芳年)

  • Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) (月岡 芳年)
  • Subject: Shomu and the elephant.
  • Series: Wakan hyaku monogatari (One hundred ghost stories of China and Japan). (芳年　和漢百物語)
  • Signature: Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi ga.

  • Date: 9/1865.
  • Publisher: Daikin.

  • Reference: Roger Keyes. Courage and Silence: A Study of the Life and Color Woodblock Prints of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: 1839-1892. Ann Arbor, 1983, series 134, no.23.
  • wakan (和漢) just means “japanese”

  • Artelino article

  • “Kingio Hideaki” may be another ghost image from this artist
  • Shoki – from Thirty-six Ghosts and Demons, 1890

  • Demon Attacking Watanabe no Tsuna, 1888
  • Japan Prints lists:
    • Fujiwara no Hidesato Shooting Centipede at Dragon Kings Palace
    • Takeda Katsuchiyo Killing an Old Badger in the Moonlight
    • Nitta Tadatsume Seeing an Apparition in a Cave
    • Sadanobu Threatening a Demon in the Palace at Night

    • Ghost of Wicked Genta Yoshihira Attacking Naamba Jiro – Waterfall
  • selling originals at Ukiyoe Gallery

  • “New Forms of Japanese Ghosts” (新形三å??六怪撰)
  • Is this an exhibit of some kind?

  • Kinokuniya has a book called yoshitoshi youkaihyakukei – (芳年妖怪百系) – “yoshitoshi’s series of 100 ghosts.” Its ISBN is 4336042020 and it costs about Â¥4000

Atari’s “Adventure” and Oral History

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Yorick is Wily
I was just reading about the Invisible Dot in Adventure the other day… there was this easter egg in “Adventure,” which was a really trippy game.

Adventure had dragons, and castles, and you had to get the Chalice back to the Yellow Castle.

The best thing about it was since it came out very early, no one had the manual (the manuals to Atari games always got lost), so there was all this oral mythology built up around the game. Like we called the dungeons “catacombs,” and all the dragons had names. Everyone had a theory on why the Bat did what it did, and how to fight the different dragons.

I don’t know if the names were from the manual, or if someone’s dad came up with them… the green one was called Grendel, and the Red one was called Yorick. I don’t remember the yellow dragon’s name, but he looked like Big Bird. The game was full of magic because of the oral history that surrounded it.

Anyway, the Invisible Dot was this thing somewhere in the Black Castle, where Yorick would hang out… After you kill Yorick, you somehow find this Invisible Dot using the Bridge or the Magnet or both… then you take it and put it behind a wall, and something secret happens.

We must have spent dozens of hours trying to find this damn thing, and in retrospect no wonder, because we were missing large amounts of details. Which wall? How do you find it if it’s invisible? How would you use the Magnet or the Bridge to get this thing? And what happens when you do this anyway?

I have since found out the real names of the dragons. And the plot. And a lot of hints that make the game a lot less mysterious. So I’m not going to tell you any of this legitimate information, because it’s no fun.

Stikfas

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I like the StikFas toys… they have a good look to them. My friend Max has a bunch of them on his tables and desks, etc… you can buy them in 10 packs now.

I like the giant robot one. And of course the Supervillain.

Some people customise them. It seems like a giant StikFas gallery is only a matter of time.

Unfortunately they cost like $10 each, and one of the little figures would be yet another piece of kibble floating around my place.

UPDATE

There is already a gallery of peoples’ collections on the Stikfas site called “stikfans”, as well as an entire directory of links to Stikfas enthusiasts’ sites (click on “links”… duh!).